Battery feed for automatic weft-replenishing looms



April 23, 1929. T. H. BARRETT ET AL BATTERY FEED FOR AUTOMATIC WEFT REFLENISHING LOOMS Filed Aug. 15, 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet l Zfiflarrett Dennisfi Weens A tlor ne y April 1929 T. H. BARRETT ET AL 1,710,527

BATTERY FEED FOR AUTOMATIC WEJP'T REPLENISHING LOOMS Filed Aug. 15, 1927 2 Sheets-Shem Inventors A tlor ne y ing looms, and has for its object to provide a.

UNITED STATES.

IHO IVJIAS H. BARRETT AND DENNIS A.

wEEMs, or BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA.

BATTERY FEED FOR AUTOMATIC WEFT-REBLENISHING LOOMS.

Application filed August 15, 1927. Serial ,N0.'213,122.

' Our invention relates to a feed for the battery or magazine of automatic weftreplenishnew design of, and cooperative action be tween, the stopsand feed dogs, whereby the feed dog tooth will be caused always to have a full engagement with a tooth ofthe battery ratchet so to avoid the disadvantages of the present feeds resulting from a faulty engagement of the feed dog with the ratchet that cause wear and breakage not only of the ratchet gear teeth, but also damage to and destruction ofthc filling carriers, shuttles,

bobbin supports, transfer hammers, and battery stands which may occur whenever the battery feed fails. i

When the transfer mechanism automatically acts to eject an empty filling carrier from the shuttle and insert a fresh filling carrier thereinto from the battery or magazine, the feed dog, following the movement of the hammer, disengages the ratchet wheel on the battery leaving itheld only by the counter weighted stop dog, and under such conditions, due to the vibration of the loom, the inertia of the battery, its unbalanced conditions, and other causes, the battery may shift from true position, by which I meanthe' position in which the 'returning feed dog would have a full, true and correct engagement with the succeeding tooth of the ratchet.

We have conceived that the battery canbe held in correct position and the feed dog caused to move always ilnto correct engage-- ment with the battery ratchet teeth by providing the stop dog with an arm or projection disposed to engage the feed dog on the lower side thereof remote from the stop do spring means being provided to press the feed dog in the direction to engage this shoulder on the stop dog, thereby pressing the stop dog against the ratchet. Since the feed dog has n'lovement relative to the stop dog as it follows the transfer hammer, we have designed its surface which engages the shoulder on the stop dog sothat the feed dog will follow a path of movement controlled by the position of the stop dog. which in turn is controlled by the position of the battery ratchet, the result being that the feed dog when moving into actuating engagement with the ratchet will always be guided into full engagement with the ratchet tooth and will not strike the tip of. the teeth and wear or break them elf, as theprese'nt battery feed mechanisms do.

Our invention further comprises the novel details of construction and arrangements of parts, which are hereinafter more particularly described in the accompanying specification and pointed out in the appended claims, reference, for purposes of lllustration, being form a part of this specification, and in which Fig. 1 is a partial view of a battery show ing the transfer hammer in its raised position and the dogs in their normal position. Fig. 2 is a similar view showing the transfer hammer at the limit of its operating stroke. ig. 3 is a fullend View of the battery showing the transfer hammer partway on its return stroke withthe feed dog engagingthe battery ratchet preparatory to advancethe same one step.

Fig. 4;- is a sectional .view. partly broken away of the feed mechanism taken on the line IV-IV of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a detail view of the stop dog, showing the feed dog in dotted lines with the dotted curves indicating a typical relative movement of parts.

Similar reference numerals refer to similar parts throughout the drawings.

In the embodimentof our invention'illus trated, 6 indicates, the rotary battery comprising two parallel disks, one-only being shown, provided with seats 7 for the butts of the filling carriers, which, for the sake of clearness are not shown, but which may be the ordinary bobbins or quills carrying the weft or filling. The battery has a hub 8 mounted to turn on a stud 9 fast in the'battery stand shown at 10. The usual guidell on the stand 10 surrounds the battery and serves to hold the filling carriers inposition until ready to be transferred by the transfer hammer 12, which is mounted on a bell crank 13 having its depending arm operated by the automatic transfer mechanism, which being well understood by those skilled in this art and forming no part of our present invention, need not be here described or illustrated, it being suflicicnt to say that when the automatic transfer mechanism is operated the transfer. hammer is swung downwardly, knocking the filling carrier presented in position for trans had to the accompanying drawings which provision of the arm 21 projecting toward the transfer hammer and upturned so as to provide a lug or shoulder 22 which is adapted to engage the curved face 23 of the feed dog 5%, which dog is pivotally mounted by a pin 25 on the transfer hammer and is vertically movable therewith relative to the stop dog. Thisdog provided with a tooth or actuating projection 26 offset from its side toward the ratchet 19 and spaced from its end, which end, in the manner well understood, overiangs the ratchet ano. serves as a. guide for this dog while :tceoing the battery. On its outer or exposed face the dog 24; is provided with a h1g2? to which one end of a coil spring 28 isconnected, the other end being secured to the member 29 o f the transfer hammer.

The action of this spring is to pull the feed dog 2% towards engagement with the projection 22 on the stop dog. The feed dog 24L differs from the conventional feed dogs now in use only in respect of the provision 01. means for connecting a spring thereto and in theshape of its convex curved face 23. The purposes of the above changes in the construction of the dogs will be understood by reference to a description of the operation of the battery feed which follows.

Fig. 1 shows the transfer hammer at the top of return stroke, the feed dog 2-1 standing clear of the lug 22011 the stop dog, the stop dog 16 held by gravity in engagement with one tooth of the ratchet 19,.and the tooth 26 on the feed dog held by the spring 28 in full. engagement with another tooth of the ratchet. WVhen the transfer mechanism operates at the completion of the operating or down stroke of the hammer, the parts assume the position shown in Fig. 2,-itbeing noted here that the spring 28 has been brought under tension and is pressing the feed dog 2 5i.- against the projection 22 and is thus pressin g the stop dog 16 firmly against the ratchet wheel. The advantage of this spring pressure thus uppliedto the stop dog is to hold the battery against displacement due to its inertia or its unbalanced condition, or any other ordinary force that would tend to displace its teeth from the correct position which they should assume before the feed dog operates.

, Fig. 3 shows the feed dog assuming engagement with the ratchet with the hammer partway on its return stroke, it being understood that the remaining port-ion of the hammers stroke will cause the dog 24: to advance the ratchet one step and teed the battery. Bear- .ing in mind that the spring 28 will be pulling against the feed dog and that the stop dog is mounted on a stationary part, the shoulder 22 thereon will tend to remain stationary as the feed dog moves from the position in Fig. 2 to that in Fig. 8, and thus the curved face of the feed dog 2% will ride past this shoulder 22, causing the tooth 26 on the feed .dog 24 to travel in a path which may be straight or may follow'the curved line indicated at (e-d in Fig. 5, it being possible for this curve to be modified by any displacement of the stop dog 16 responsive to movement of the battery, which obviously would swing the shoulder 22 through an are about the pivot of the stop dog. Thus, when the stop dog is displaced it will only be when the ratchet is out of correct position and such displacement will be automatically transmittedto the feed dog, causing; it to be displaced in the direc-. tion in which the ratchet is displaced and insuring that as it assumes operative engagement with the ratchet itwill do so with a movement which will bring its tooth 26into' contact, not with a tip only of the ratchet tooth, but into a full tooth contact which will theretore preserve the ratchet teeth from damage, insure its long and etlective life, and will thus afford a material economy in the maintenance of weft replenishing looms of the automatic type. As the feed dog is moved during the'battery actuating portionvof its stroke, namely, that occurring inthe change of position from the parts shown in Fig. 3, to that shown inFig. 1, the dog will be carried, away slightly from the'projection 22 and both dogs will stand in tree engagement with the ratchet subject only to the fact that the dog 241- is always under tension from the spring-28 and thus acts to guide it towards the ratchet as it approaches the operating end of its stroke. As the feed dog pivot 25 swings it follows an are (5-6, shown in Fig. 5, and as the shoulder 22 moves it follows the path indicatedby the dotted lines 0 c in Fig. 5. The movement of the feed dog is a component of these several curves as modified by the relative movement caused by the engagement of its curved surface 23 with the shoulder 22.

'lh-ough we have described with greatparticularity the details of the embodiment of the invention herein shown, it is not to be construed that we are limited thereto, as changes in arrangement and substitution ot" equivalents may be made by those skilled in the art without departing tromthe invention as l .iined in the-appended claims.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new and desire to secure by Let-- ters Patent, is

1. In a battery feed for automatic weft replenishing looms, a rotatable elementfor the .weit carriers having a ratchet, an. automatically operable transterrer, a stop dog co-acting with the ratchet and having a fixed pivot, a feed dog adapted to co-act with the ratchet and movable responsive to the transterrer, a

guide for the feed dog carried by the stop dog and adapted to engage the feed dog adjacent to its pivot and on the side thereof remote from the stop dog pivot, and spring means to press the feed dog towards said guide.

2. A battery feed for Weft replenishing looms according to claim 1, in which the feed dog has a curvilinear face disposed to engage the guide carrier by the stop dog and adapted to direct the feed dog into full tooth engagement with the battery ratchet.

3. In a battery feed for automatic weft replenishing looms, the combination with a battery having a ratchet, a battery stand carrying a stop dog'pivotally mounted thereon and engaging the ratchet, a transferrer for ejecting weft carriers from the battery, a feed dog pivotally mounted on an element movable with the transferrer, a spring and co-acting guide elements on the dogs adapted to force the feed dog in advancing towards the battery ratchet to bepositively guided into engagement with the base of a ratchet tooth.

4. An automatic feed for weft replenishing looms according to claim 3, in which the press the feed dog against said guide as itadvances to engage the ratchet. 5. Ina battery feed for automatic weft roilenishin loomsqa rotatable element for the weft carriers having a ratchet, an automati cally operable transferrer, a stop dog coactin g with; the ratchet andhaving a fixed pivot, a

feed dog adapted to co-act with the ratchet and n'iovable responsive to the transferrer, guide means for the feed dog and effective to direct said dog in a curvilinear path into full tooth engagement withthe' ratchet, and a spring for biasing both the feed dog and the i sto do toward the ratchet. e

b .I 0 In testimony whereof we aflix our signatures.

TI-IOMASH BARREIT.

DENNISv A. \VEEMS. 

